Live-in care means you have a fully trained carer living with you in your home. Your carer will support your specific needs and routine to help you stay independent and live life the way you want to.
A live-in carer will be on hand to meet all of your specific care needs and provide you with emotional support too. Your live-in carer can help with personal care, medication, household tasks, complex care and companionship.
Live-in care is available for adults of all ages and capabilities. With live-in care, you don’t have to move out of the home you love; a carer will come to you and provide the support you need at all times on a dedicated one-to-one basis.
CQC-regulated live-in care offers a greater support system than typical introductory agencies because they are monitored for safety, effectiveness and responsiveness of their care. Our service is also fully managed by a senior team of live-in care managers to ensure a high-quality service at all times.
No, we are purely a live-in care provider. If you’re looking for hourly care, we do offer a less intensive package called Home Help. It is significantly better value than hourly care. However, bear in mind, we wouldn’t recommend this as a comprehensive solution for those with more complex needs, such as dementia.
Our prices for comprehensive support from a live-in carer start from £1,075 per week for a single person and £1,375 per week for a couple.
When you arrange live-in care, we will find out your hobbies, interests and get to know you as a person. This enables us to match you with a compatible carer that is able to support you physically and mentally and likely to become a close friend over time.
We guarantee that, if your loved one has dementia, they’ll get a carer with experience of looking after someone with the condition. We also meet all of our carers face-to-face, undertake a full background check and take references of their work history.
The way we’re able to pass on such a competitive price is by having minimal bricks and mortar establishments. So we’re unable to arrange in-person meetings ahead of the carer arriving. However, we’ll send your family a full CV and personal introductory video so you can get an idea of the type of person we’ve selected. Once care begins, you have a trial week to be sure it’s right. If you’re not happy, your family is free to leave, no strings attached.
Yes, it’s a requirement for all carers working with us to be able to speak fluent English. If they’re not British nationals, we’ll make sure their qualifications are up to the same, rigorous standards we have in the UK.
Yes, many of our customers use support from their local authority in the form of direct payments. To claim from your local council, start by arranging a care needs assessment with them. After this, your loved one’s liquid (that’s not including their property) assets will be assessed. In England, if they have less than £23,250 they’ll be eligible for government support.
When it comes to payments, we try to minimise the stress for everyone involved. Your family pays for care weekly, usually by direct debit. You will only ever pay in arrears, after care has been received.
We understand the importance of continuity for those living with dementia. However, the carers we work with are only human, and do require time off. You can expect your family’s primary carer to be with you for four weeks at a time, usually taking one or two weeks off. During this period, we’ll arrange for a respite carer to step in.
If the need is urgent, we’re able to put care in place in as little as 24 hours. However, usually we’d ask for longer. The more notice our team has to build up a picture of your loved one’s needs, the more likely the carer is to be a good fit. If you require for care to be in place quickly, often we’ll find a carer based solely on experience and then will subsequently put the time in to find a more suitable, long-term match further down the line.
The carer will need their own bedroom to use for sleeping and as a place to relax when they are taking a break. It is best to provide a television and internet access for them since they will be spending so much time with your loved one. The carer will prepare meals and probably eat with your loved one, so separate dining facilities will not be needed. We’d recommend budgeting £30 per week for the carer’s food. However, if you’d like us to arrange it, we can add it to your weekly payments.
There are various pieces of nursing equipment you can buy that can make caring for your loved one at home easier.
If they spend a lot of time in bed or need their position changed at regular intervals, it is worth opting for a hospital bed. In addition to raising and lowering to the optimum position for the carer to work, it will help them to keep your loved one in a comfortable position and sit them upright for meals. Hospital beds also have side rails to use if the person is at risk of falling. Extra equipment such as pressure relief mattresses will also minimise the development of pressure sores.
Usually, the district nursing service will advise on the best specialist equipment for nursing your loved one and providing care at home. They should also be able to organise the supply of these items from NHS stores, although some items may have to be purchased privately.
If your family member has mobility issues, it is worth looking into the various aids that can help them – from walking aids such as Zimmer frames to the installation of a stair lift. If your loved one is unable to stand, you will need a hoist so that the live-in carer can reposition them when necessary. Equipment such as a mobile commode is useful for toilet and personal hygiene tasks such as showering.
A live-in carer provides companionship for your loved one when family members are unable to be around. They will be chosen on the basis of shared interests and hobbies, as well as for the ability to meet your loved one’s medical and healthcare needs.
In a typical day the carer and your loved one might play games together or share activities such as cooking or gardening. They will also your loved one with getting dressed, personal hygiene and administering medication. Put simply, the carer will try to support your loved one to carry on doing the things they enjoy, but ensure that they do not put themselves at risk.
You will be notified of illness or a fall, or anything else that you need to be aware of and the carer will also contact health care professionals such as nurses or doctors if they need to.
No, we can arrange for temporary care. If you usually care for your loved one, but are going on holiday, or just need a bit of time off, live-in care is the perfect cover. Please be aware, our prices vary for those on a temporary arrangement.
The carer is on-hand to help. With their usual shift hours around 12 hours per day. So you can have the peace of mind of knowing that your loved one is safe and cared for. To provide additional peace of mind, there are many aids available to alert the carer to potential problems.
If your loved one is prone to falls and needs someone with them, a pressure mat placed beside the bed can trigger an alarm that lets the live-in carer know if the person gets up in the night. Similarly, alarms can be installed close to doors so that your loved one cannot wander off without their carer realising.